1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to telecommunication systems and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for providing verification of the identification of a first entity to a second entity.
2. Description of the Related Art
Voice over IP (VoIP) is a technological development in the field of telecommunications that is utilized to transmit voice conversations over a data network using the Internet Protocol (IP). After a user subscribes to a VoIP service, the user can make/receive phone calls to/from other VoIP subscribers or to public switched telephone network (PSTN) customers and access a number of features associated with the VoIP service, such as call waiting, three-way calling, call forwarding, voicemail service, and the like.
Calls from a VoIP caller typically display the caller ID information of the caller to the called party. The inventor has observed that it is very easy for a VoIP caller to “spoof” his/her caller ID to appear as someone they are not. Caller ID information is often centrally maintained on the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) in a Caller Name (CNAM) database. Generally, service providers access the CNAM database to retrieve caller ID data. However, the CNAM request for information is based on the calling number that is provided by the caller and, in the case of a VoIP call, that number is freely editable by the caller without any verification. This prevents called parties from screening calls from unknown or undesirable callers (such as telemarketers).
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art for a method and apparatus for providing improved caller ID information in a telecommunication system that can recognize when a caller ID is legitimate and conveying that information to the called party.